The Spell
by Military Penguin
Summary: As Chairman Hyoudou awoke one morning from a puzzling dream he found himself transformed in his bed into a tiny bird.


Hyoudou went to bed in a sour mood. It had been a lousy night, far different from what he'd expect out of a bad night - his food was overcooked, his elderly bones strained even when he wasn't moving them, and his black suits were dully obedient, showing not a even a tinge of discomfort at orders such as padding his chair with newspaper or holding a string with a bell attached at the end overhead for him to bat at.

What was most unusual, however, was the dream he had. There were no pained screams nor giddy cackling to be heard in this dream, and the closest thing he could see to a peasant kneeling before him was a thin man sitting with his back turned to him. Though long hair that fell past his shoulders was a common physical trait to be shared amongst the poor folk, Hyoudou instantly recognized who the shaggy mane belonged to.

"Ah, Kaiji-kun!" he greeted his favorite piece of human trash, "It's been a long time since I'd last seen you here not whimpering and begging for mercy at my feet!"

He laughed heartily to himself but the young man didn't flinch or stir at his sudden appearance. No, he seemed to be so absorbed in whatever he was doing - reading some document written using an unrecognizable code or alphabet - that it miraculously blocked any outside interruptions from being heard altogether. No matter, the chairman enjoyed tearing down these so-called impenetrable walls such as the one sitting before him.

"What are you reading there?" Hyoudou chuckled, tapping Kaiji on the shoulder with his cane.

The last thing he heard was Kaiji muttering something under his breath and before he knew it he was awake, buried underneath layers of blankets. Voices of his black suits could be heard in his room, all murmuring a variant of "Chairman?"

"I'm right here, you fools!" he growled back at them.

The blankets were pulled off of him and his men let out a collective gasp. Hyoudou looked up at them and blinked, thinking his vision must be declining or that his suits somehow appeared bigger when they stood over him. Still, it didn't clear up what made his suits react the way they did.

"What on earth are you gawking at?" he snapped, irritated at their silence.

One of the suits kneeled down, holding a mirror in his shaking hands. "Ch-Chairman, I think you ought to see for yourself..."

The mirror was held in front of him, but he was nowhere to be seen in it. The only notable thing to be shown in the mirror was a grey-brown bird about the size of his hand, presumably one that somehow managed to escape into the building. Its feathers were ruffled - probably found its way in here just now, and whoever was careless enough to let it in was going to pay dearly. But it didn't clear up the suits' reactions -

"Chairman Hyoudou has been turned into a bird!"

Hyoudou gaped in disbelief at the mind-bogglingly stupid conclusion they came to, but then his eyes wandered down to look at his hands and he was left gaping at the pair of wings in front of him instead. Surprisingly, the chairman's shock quickly wore off as he put that dream of his into the equation.

"Heh...so this is the form of revenge you wanted to extract on me, Kaiji-kun?" he chuckled to himself, "By turning me into a little bird? Hah!"

He sat there cackling to himself while the suits continued to stare in awe at the terrifying voice of their boss coming out of the beak of an otherwise cute little bird. When one of the men coughed to contain his laughter, a nerve was struck in Hyoudou. He fluttered off his bed and landed on top of the offending suit's head. His change of appearance apparently did not cause his intimidation to decline entirely, as the suit stiffened and straightened his position the moment his claws gripped his scalp.

"Prepare me a wine bath for this ingrate to drink!" boomed Hyoudou.

"A-ah, b-but sir..." one of the suits spoke up, "I-I mean no offense but...what could you possibly do to the wine in your current state...?"

"Have you no imagination, or have you just never had a pet bird?" Though Hyoudou had no lips to grin with, the suits could somehow _hear _it in his voice and backed away in preparation for his answer. "Hehe...birds often leave little presents when they take baths!"


End file.
